Nuits Sonores 2005; flyer

The 'Carte Blanche' element of this year's Nuits Sonores Festival took place in Lyon, France, and centred on Factory Records and the music of Manchester. In common with previous festivals a whole section of the Festival is handed over to a particular theme and this year it was Factory.

The line-up includes an exhibition of the work of Central Station Design, a mini-conference with Tony Wilson (Factory / F4 Records), Matt Carroll (Central Station Design) and John Cooper (Cerysmatic Factory), a photographic exhibition 'Manchester, le son en images' by Richard Bellia, 'Made in Manchester' - a series of screenings of notable Manchester / Factory Records documentary films and a showing of Michael Winterbottom's movie '24 Hour Party People'. Plus, during the main festival which runs from 4-8 May, A Certain Ratio appear at a special concert and Mike Pickering and Dave Haslam play DJ sets. Full details are available at www.nuits-sonores.com but here are the highlights:

A Certain Ratio / James Chance and the Contortions live at Les Subsistances, 7 May 2005

Review

A Certain Ratio and James Chance and the Contortions played a special concert last night to celebrate the end of Nuits Sonores 2005 in Lyon. The splendid setting was Les Subsistances, the arts and cultural centre on the bank of the River Saone which had also played host to the Central Station Design exhibition during the previous month.

The lighting and particularly the sound were excellent both excellent given the cavernous setting in an indoor cobblestone courtyard. ACR played a good set (see full listing below) to a decent crowd which was enthusiastic despite most of them probably being unfamiliar with the material.

Highlights included a great 'Wonder Y' (which also marked Denise's appearance on stage), the house piano-tinged 'Won't Stop Loving You', 'Shack Up' (which got everyone dancing) and traditional encore 'Si Firmi' featuring everyone hitting or shaking something and, towards the end, a new backing tape which drew to a crescendo. And then the end.

Setlist*

Intro
Do the Do
And Then Again
Flight
Wonder Y
Turn Me On
Wild Party
Shack Up
WSLU
Wannabee
--
Si Firmi